Candidates have limited control in an interview. They cannot control the questions they will be asked nor can they control the manner by which employers will rank and weigh their responses. They cannot control interviewer bias.

Despite such noble intentions, candidates are frequently rejected or hired for other criteria. Over the past several months, we have had candidates eliminated by clients not for failing to check off the exhaustive list of requisite experience, skills or competencies but rather...

Many hiring managers read resumes in a cursory manner. They review the companies and roles that candidates have filled over their careers while making note of education levels, stability, the quality/consistency of overall career trajectory, and purported skills, knowledge and competencies.

Executive search processes and their outcomes fascinate me to no end. I enjoy trying to figure out how organizations determine their requirements and how well the outcomes line up to them. The recent decision to hire Ron Tavener as OPP Commissioner is a case in point.

In our last post we discussed the temptations facing unemployed executives to move with extreme haste in finding a new role. Conceptualizing job loss as akin to falling off a horse they associate ‘down time' with unproductive, time-consuming activity.

Every week, without exception, we meet executives who have jumped back on their horses in this very manner and embraced a ‘spray and pray' job search strategy. For some it may work like a charm but for the majority, dare I say the vast majority, it is the wrong approach.

The message for companies is pay attention, respect personal dignity, gives candidates a voice and some control over the process, and treat them as partners in an important relationship. Not only will companies have a higher chance of hiring them, on terms possibly more favorable, but as it turns out, keeping them.

How To Attract More Female Candidates For Executive Searches

Are you looking to bring more women into the mix when you hire your next executive? If so, you're not alone. Charley Polachi asked Erica Seidel, friend and partner of Polachi Executive Search, to share tips with you. Erica recruits executives with a focus on modern marketing, digital strategy, marketing technology, and marketing analytics. Here is what she had to say....

“…And we’d like you to introduce us to plenty of women candidates.” Executive search people hear this a lot. Especially these days.

Here’s what I’ve done to funnel top women candidates into searches:

1. Read “Solutions To Recruit Technical Women.” This guide, published by The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, details how to build female-friendly recruitment channels and hiring practices. It also showcases tech companies with creative approaches to recruiting women.

2. Define what success looks like in the job, and focus less on what the ideal candidate looks like. In other words, define the job more so than the person. I’ve found that a search is far more successful if we accurately define the problem we’re looking to solve, the results we’re hoping the new leader will achieve, and the KPIs that will form the signposts along the way. By contrast, if we get into “this is someone who is charismatic,” then we get stuck trying to manifest that particular personality style, and benchmarking candidates against that style rather than against the job. While interaction styles matter, there are a number of styles that can be successful at, say, telling great stories with data or bringing people on board with a new marketing initiative.

3. Optimize the job spec, which is the ‘front door’ to an opportunity. When candidates first read the job spec, they try to picture themselves in the role. If they read something that makes them picture someone else, they could be turned off from the start. To maximize engagement with the job spec, here are some things I’ve found that work well:

Run a job spec through Textio, to spot language that could be made more gender-neutral.

Interview a variety of people who will be on the hiring team or be a stakeholder for the new hire. Incorporate their input into the job spec, peppering in quotes from a range of people. Doing this makes the role and culture come alive more, while showcasing diversity of thought and background

4. Scout female candidates in particular. Ah, the joys of LinkedIn. You can find alumnae from historically women’s colleges – Wellesley, Smith, Mount Holyoke, etc. You can search for words like ‘women’ or ‘she.’ Beyond LinkedIn, some lists of ‘women to watch’ are very helpful.

5. Orchestrate a process designed to let skills shine – not just through interviews, but also through assessments. Most interviews are about building rapport and discussing the job in generalities. This isn’t a bad start. But things get a lot more real when we discuss actual work that a candidate has done, and invite that candidate to grapple with the challenges of the role that they’re evaluating.

6. Make sure candidates meet with both women and men at your company. Some candidates – though not all — value greatly the opportunity to meet people of all genders when they explore a role. Doing this can be the difference between losing and hanging on to a candidate. This diversity needn’t come from the cluster of people that the new hire will work with every day – though that doesn’t hurt. It could come from tapping an advisor or Board member.

While the best person for a role will ultimately be determined based on multiple variables, the tips here will help you develop a gender-diverse pipeline for a job and keep that pipeline as diverse as possible for as long as possible.

Erica Seidel along with the Polachi team recruits the rare marketing talent that you wouldn't find on your own.

We are currently working in Boston, Waltham, Woburn, Needham, Bedford, Burlington, Tewksbury, Tolland CT, Metro New York, Portsmouth, and San Diego, and would be happy to conduct your next search.

Robert Hebert is the founder and Managing Partner of StoneWood Group Inc., a leading executive search firm in Canada. Since 1981, he has helped firms across a wide range of sectors address their senior recruiting, assessment and leadership development requirements.

Contact Robert by email at rhebert@stonewoodgroup.com or call (1) 416-365-9494 EXT 777